What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character
What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton is certainly the Audible book with the longest title I’ve chosen so far. It’s perhaps also the one I’ve enjoyed least, not that that should be a reflection on the authors. In fact, Richard Feynman, or more precisely Professor Richard Phillips Feynman shared a Nobel Prize, served on the Manhattan Project and developed a pictorial way of representing mathematical expressions relating to the behaviour of subatomic particles. In between all that, he managed to find time to develop the idea of nanotechnology and serve on the investigative board for the Challenger disaster. Those are just some of the contributions he made to modern science and the world. Incredibly curious, with an ability to explain even the most complex phenomena, Feynman was a remarkable individual.
The book is a collection of stories and letters as recounted by Feynman to the author, and includes some additional texts provided by Feynman himself and others. Six hours and a bit long, the tidbits of Feynman‘s life are presented in an informal and unstructured fashion. Feynman seems to have had a propensity for writing many letters, thinking rather highly of himself and being very fond of the words “he says“. His dedication to his first wife, struck ill and having to spend much of her short life in a hospital close to the laboratory he worked at is touching. Feynman‘s ingenuity at trying to solve problems or to come up with suitable, if wacky, experiments highlights a persona that is ever curious and will go to any length to determine the right answer to a problem. Even so, the first half of the book is sometimes tedious to listen to. The second half of the book is more interesting, dealing with Feynman‘s inclusion in the presidential investigation into the Challenger disaster. For those interested in space flight, there is some technical detail of the space shuttle’s inner workings that is certainly worth listening to. The reading by Raymond Todd cannot live up to the narrative efforts of most of the other audio books I’ve heard, though. He’s reading, not telling the story.
On the whole, What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman and Ralph Leighton is a text you need to be in the mood for. It’s no substitute for a story as dynamic as Dune, and cannot live up to the story of Houdini‘s life, for example. But, it’s a portrait of a fascinating character, and recounts some of his life experiences. If that’s your cup of tea, you may enjoy it.
